35 comments:

Ok, first of all: Cotabato (the province Gen San City is located in) is the southernmost tip of Mindanao, and is very much Moro territory. As big and modern as Gen San is (over 500,000 people), that provincce that city is in is still a violent part of the Philippines. Go a bit more west, and you're in the heart of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front territory, as well as Abu Sayyaf's and Jema’ah Islamiyah's stomping grounds. The NYTimes can make cute stories about Karaoke all they want, but I think this is far less about that and far more about where it's happening at.

Wacky and tragic at the same time, like so many stories out of the Philippines.

Back in the 80's when I was stationed in Japan, I used to hang out at various karaoke bars and "My Way" and "Yesterday" were usually the only English language songs in the catalog so I sang "My Way" often and badly. Nothing exciting ever happened, though...everyone just clapped politely and ordered more drinks. Totally different karaoke culture.

My favorite version was one that the late Andy Kaufman did, I think on Saturday Night Live, years ago. Never could find the clip of it. Then there was the version done by the late Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols. Add in the late Frank Sinatra and the late Elvis, and you're singing a song sung mostly by dead guys. It's like sitting with your back to the door holding aces and eights -- there are some things you just don't want to do...

You don't care about anything except you. You just want to persuade people that you love 'em so much that they ought to love you back. Only you want love on your own terms. Something to be played your way, according to your rules.

Back in the 60s, there were always stories on the wire services of shootouts at Filipino campaign rallies and the like. Haven't heard one of those in years, so maybe that sort of tendency has found a new home.

XWL said...

"Go a bit more west, and you're in the heart of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front territory,"

Take care when you do a web search for MILF, you aren't likely to find information on a terrorist group . . .

It's the embalming fluid they use in sealing the bottle. They reuse old caps and in order to keep it from going south they put a few drops of embalming fluid in. Sometimes a wee bit more then a few drops.

This is more common the further you go from Manila...except for really dingy places in Manila.

Some notes on Cotabato. The original Cotabato province has been cut up into several provinces, thanks to feudalism. Now we have Cotabato and South Cotabato, and more provinces like infamous Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, etc. Gen San city used to be Dadiangas.

The NYT reporter should have known, the locals now have a different lingo for the place and the activity, it is now referred to as videoke, rather than the dated karaoke.

Even in big and nice cities one can find these bars, many hole-in-the-wall affairs, dotting many of its seedy underbellies, like in and near marketplaces, squatters’ areas, etc. Perfect set-ups for trouble and violence.

I surmise it is less that one particular song (an English song the masa easily identify with) incites one to violence, but rather the explosive environment where it is spawned. They could very well be singing Xmas songs as a prelude to violence. After all violence of this nature rises during the holidays.

The NYTimes is so stupid that they probably think the political murder of our nephew (at a cockfight) was about cockfighting, not about killing the opposition candidate in our town so the mayor could win the election and keep his hand in the moneypot.

With the libel laws in this country, you can't point fingers, so they blame the kareoke machine, even though everyone knows why the person is killed.